Baling 3mil lpde 4 film

Need a little help from the experts here. I generate 5-7k pounds of this film per month. It is a bag of sorts. We take the material out of the bag and install it leaving us the bag. We put 45 bags per drum liner (for containment purposes) and right now we fill up roll off containers and take it to the recycler. I get $.07 per pound and the buyer says I could get $.14 per if I baled myself.

What is the best baler to use? I have my own trucking and storage, so neither of those would be an issue. Obviously this is not how I generate revenue, but if I could get to a better position on this stuff, it would be great. Right now it is costing me money to get rid of it, even with them buying it. I just can't get enough into the container to get the weight up.

Help??

I can't help you with the best baler brands to use, but I can suggest what I might do to help start the learning curve to arrive at the answer you want:

-Talk to the waste plastic customer--what does he want for a bale: size, weight, etc. He might be expecting a bale that is different that what you are thinking of.
-what kind of banding does he expect on the bale? There is plastic, steel and wire banding available. Does it need to be galvanized band or wire?
-How much compression do they need to get the expected bale weight? Since it is thin plastic, I would think it wouldn't take much to compress it but I might be wrong.
-How many bales per month are you expecting? At 7,000 lbs/mo, you may be expecting only about a dozen bales or so, and therefore a baler need not be very heavy duty, unless it has to be one that compresses the bales with many tons of force.
-Considering the duty cycle and the capability of your guys, could you consider a used baler? It may take a bit more monkeywrenching to keep it running but you could save a bundle.
-how much are you willing to spend on this machine?

Once you have the basic parameters of what you are looking for, then you are ready to look around.

-Google search for manufacturers and used machine dealers (If you are willing to look at used)
-talk to people who have balers. You might check the people who handle waste paper and cardboard. Very likely they have balers that would be similar to what you are looking for.
- See if you can find a dealer in your town/city. Talk to them. Ask for users who have their stuff you can go look at.

By the way, once you have a baler, you may be in a position to accumulate a container load of waste plastic and possibly shop around the sale of the plastic further afield. Since your waste is all one type, it may conmand a premium over other waste plastic!


Hope these suggestions help.

Jon.

my former employer used several types of balers over the years for cardboard , paper and poly scrap.

the smallest and easiest to run and repair were the handfed vertical balers

Sawmilleng,
Thanks for the comprehensive answer. I have already begun the baler search and I definately will consider used, actually, that is all I will consider. Given my volume, it will not be a big deal to quit baleing due to breakdown.

I did not think about several of the other things you listed.

Thanks again!

Don't know which part of GA you are located but International Baler Corporation is located in Jacksonville, FL.

You should get a hold of them if you are looking into new.

Are the bailers being used for plastic like the bailers used for bailing sheeps wool?



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